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Crosby scores twice, but Islanders beat Penguins 4-3

Kyle Okposo spoiled Sidney Crosby's return to the Pittsburgh Penguins lineup by scoring a fluky goal at 12:23 of the third period to give the New York Islanders a 4-3 win that ties up their Eastern Conference quarterfinal.

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Crosby scores twice, but Islanders beat Penguins 4-3

Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports
11:31 p.m. EDT May 3, 2013

Penguins center Sidney Crosby returned to the ice after getting hit in the jaw by a puck. Crosby scored two goals for the Penguins, but it wasn't enough as the Islanders won 4-3.(Photo: Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sports)

Story Highlights

PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby's night became the New York Islanders' game because the Islanders embraced the chaos theory of hockey.

Coaches always say good things happen for teams that get pucks to the net. That was true for the Islanders Friday as they poured 42 shots on goal, and took advantage of fortunate bounces and defensive confusion, to down the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 and to tie up their Eastern Conference quarterfinal.

"You saw a little bit of a different team than we saw in Game 1," said Islanders coach Jack Capuano. "Our work ethic was there tonight. Our physicality was there tonight and our battle level was there tonight."

Kyle Okposo spoiled Crosby's return from injury by breaking a 3-3 tie at 12:23 of the third period with a goal that looked more like a billiards shot than a hockey blast. Okposo's long drive struck the boards behind the net, caromed out and kissed off the back of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's pad before trickling over the goal line.

"We were trying to get pucks to the net," Islanders center John Tavares said. "So far in the playoffs, there have been a lot from goals scored from guys going to the net. There's been a lot of scrambles and we know (Fleury) likes to challenge."

Tavares said the Islanders' game plan was keep pressure on the Penguins defensive coverage. "We were moving our feet," Tavares said. "Everyone was joining the play, we had three-, four- and five-man rushes. We were tough to cover."

The best-of-seven series is now tied 1-1 going into Game 3 in New York on Sunday afternoon.

"Hopefully we realize now how we need to play to have success," Capuano said. "We had to get pucks to the hard areas of the ice."

It took Crosby 34 days to recover from a broken jaw and about four shifts to recover his status as the world's most dangerous offensive player.

Crosby scored two goals in the first 7:22 of the game to help the Penguins build a 3-1 first period lead. It was the sixth multi-goal game of Crosby's NHL playoff career.

Crosby had not played since suffering a broken jaw, facial laceration and lost teeth on March 30 as a result of being hit by teammate Brooks Orpik's shot from the point.

The crowd gave the Penguins an early boost, but the crowd advantage seemed gone when the score was tied 3-3 and the Islanders had out-shot Pittsburgh 34-25 after two periods.

"We know that we didn't play the way we need to," Crosby said. "Obviously, they got some bounces. But I don't think we feel we did enough to deserve a win."

Crosby said the Penguins allowed the Islanders to play too much in the Penguins' end of the ice. "We have to learn from this one pretty quickly," Crosby said. "It's not the way we want to play."

Crosby said he wasn't where he wanted to be after missing 13 games with an injury.

"Definitely a little bit of rust," he said. "There isn't a lot of time. I have to find a way to create things out there."

The Penguins had built a 3-1 lead on goals by Evgeni Malkin at 43 seconds, and the pair of goals by Crosby at 3:19 and 7:22. The second Crosby tally had come just 18 seconds after Matt Moulson was credited with an Islanders' power play tally. At 5:12 of the second period, Islanders defenseman Andrew McDonald scored to cut Pittsburgh's lead to 3-2.

On every New York goal, the Islanders seemed to create their own luck by driving toward the net and taking advantage of a bounce.

Islanders left wing Matt Martin had converted a cross-ice feed from Josh Bailey to tie the game 3-3 at 10:37 of the second period.

"They worked hard. They deserved their bounces," Pittsburgh forward Jarome Iginla said. "…we had a great start, but we didn't stay as focused as we needed to be."

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